Man pleads not guilty to cyberstalking wife

BANGOR, Maine — A Utica, N.Y., man pleaded not guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to cyberstalking and interstate violation of a protection order.

Jason P. Fiume, 27, allegedly violated a protection order when he followed his wife from New York to her parents’ home in Kennebec County. Fiume also cyberstalked the woman by sending her a series of threatening text messages and posting comments on Facebook, a social networking site, according to court documents.

His trial was set tentatively for Feb. 1.

Fiume has been held without bail since his arrest in late July on state charges similar to the federal charges. U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret Kravchuk ordered Monday that he continue to be held without bail.

Once the federal case is resolved, the state charges most likely would be dropped.

The couple were married in 2008, according to court documents. On Dec. 22, 2009, Fiume assaulted his wife, was arrested and charged with assault in New York. He pleaded guilty the next April and was sentenced on June 22 to time served, or about six months, according to court documents.

That same day, the New York judge who sentenced Fiume issued a protection order requiring that he stay away from his wife and not communicate with her in any way, according to documents filed in federal court in Bangor. Fiume apparently read and signed the document.

On June 23, his wife and her family began receiving what are described in court documents as “nonstop” calls from Fiume on their land line phone. Between June 28 and July 8, Fiume allegedly wrote more than 60 Facebook messages to his wife. He then sent more than 30 text messages to her cell phone on July 19. He contin-ued to send text messages through July 27, which became more and more threatening, when he was arrested on state charges, according to the court documents.

“And ur going to beg me to kill u when I do find you,” one of the messages is quoted in court documents as saying. Another said, “I swear on the kids lives so help u god that I have a plan 4 u. things will happen when u least expect it.'”

Court documents do not state in which municipality Fiume’s in-laws live.

If convicted, Fiume faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.